Complaint Review: New Prime Inc - Springfield Missouri

This is a statement directed to discourage you from leasing a truck from Prime Inc. I leased a truck from them from for 9 months. Once I figured out the way the company works I took their truck back and have been attempting to stop other people ever since.

The Way It Works: Your driver manager can, at any given time, see what your truck is averageing per mile. They can see how many miles your truck is averageing per day, week, month and quarter. They are instructed to not allow your truck to average more then $0.89 per mile. If you do, that is when you will start recieving loads that will lower your average. If you refuse to take these loads, nothing else will be offered and you will sit. Keep in mind that while you are sitting, you are still paying for the lease. This is what will keep you "paying" their game.

Your truck also may not run more then 3800 miles per week, even if you are running as a student-team. If that happens your Driver Manager will be fined $100.00 for each "offence". When "doing the math" finally paid off I was making $0.21 per mile in a market that was paying $0.35 per mile for a company driver.

Prime Inc will also push hard for you to take a student with you. Understand that while you are grooming this person to be another victim for Prime Inc, you are paying the cost. This cost is set and it is taken out of your settlement before you see it. There were a couple of weeks when I ended up oweing the company but my student got her $600 per week.

Keep in mind that, to my understanding, Rob Lowe, the owner of Prime Inc also owns the sales company that sells the trucks to the leasing company. He owns the leaseing company, he owns the shop that they "make" you get your repairs done in if at all possible, he owns the Tax Service you are pushed into useing, he owns the insurance company that you MUST use.

Riverford Insurance Company: In orientation you will be told that you do not have to use Riverford Insurance Company. By law they can not make you use it, and that you can change if you wish. Notice they do not say that you do not have to sign up with them in the first place? That is because you do have to, no other option is offered. Once you are signed up, if you look around you will find that the same insurance can be obtained for less then half of their cost. BUT! try to change! It is simply not going to happen. For you to change insurance companies Prime Inc has to provide certain documents to the new company. They will tell you they will do this, they will SEEM very helpful, they also would rather DIE! So while on the phone or even in person they will tell you "Yes! Oh yes! we will get right to that", they simply never will.

The Tax Service: You will be told in orientation that you do not have to use the tax service provided. If you choose to lease a truck from Prime Inc for goodness sake USE THE TAX SERVICE! If you do not Prime Inc will lie about how much money you have made to the IRS and believe me folks you don't want to go there! It took me 3 years to prove they lied and cost me waayy more then the tax service would have charged me. NOTICE:I had to prove they lied, the IRS will not take your word, they will take Primes word even though this has happened time and time again.

Violations: If you are already a professional driver you know that if you receive a traffic violation it is not lawful to withhold that information from your company or your state of residence. That said, not many drivers report violations to thier company or state. They wait first to see if the state where the violation occured is going to do it. If not it is generally accepted to keep your mouth shut to protect your driver record.

Prime Inc encourages new drivers not to do this. This may seem like a good policy until you look at why. Prime Inc will tell you that if you receive a violation not to worry. Send it to them and they will remit payment even if you don't have the cash coming and take it out of your settlement a little each week. Seems like an attractive alternative to worring about money orders and stamps and did they get it....is it clear??

Prime only does this so that they can report the violation to your home state. One ticket? Oops! Two tickets? Oh no! Three tickets and congratz! you are now Primes slave for the next three years. You can't quit because you are no longer employable any place else. They don't even have to pay the premium for employing a driver with that many violations.

Please believe me when I say that this little piece of info that I believe to be true did not form out of some misguided conspiracy theory. While this did not happen to me, I met ALOT of Prime Slaves.

Mechanical Costs: You are required by the lease which you sign to pay for all mech. work done on your truck. Notice I said PAY FOR you will not be allowed to so much as change the oil. WHY?!?! because you are not a certified mechanic, and even if you are there is no formal record of your changeing the oil, and its not like your not a liar from the gate. So you will pay to have a shop do it. Oh and after you pay $150.00 plus for this neat little trick, you will not even own the oil that you paid for, nor the tires you payed to have changed, nor the headlight you just bought nor any part or parcial of the truck you are paying out the nose to operate. Rob Lowe owns that truck and always will unless you choose to pay the OUTRAGIOUS amount of money he wants for it after the termination of the lease.

So Why Does Anyone Lease?: They don't do ALL of this to EVERYONE. If they did they would not have a company. As far as I can tell they only rip-off about 40% of the people who lease from them. Everybody else will get some or none of the rip going on. But you have to decide if playing Russian Ruellette is for you and your family. Rob Lowe plays for keeps though, and he did not get to where he is by "playing fair".

NOW EYES WIDE OPEN...GO SIGN YOUR LEASE!

Alisad

Colorado City, Texas

U.S.A.